Vintage Wade with a Thunderous Dunk

[GrapeApe]

HGH again? Wade is nobody without HGH

Yet his resurgant play is largely due to him shedding weight, including excess muscle mass. If your going to troll at least do your homework first.

[Vragrant]

This is his best dunk in years. On his other "vintage" dunks this year and for most of this decade, he's had a run up or at least been able to get his steps off of his move to the basket. But, this was a callback to the first thing I ever noticed about Wade at the start of his career, that he dunked from positions that a player his size shouldn't be able to dunk from.

The explosion is nowhere close to what it used to be, and even this dunk was more a function of his freakish wingspan than his current ability to elevate, but still this was a true, old school D-Wade slam.

Not only, his wingspan but Wade gets off the floor as quickly as any player I've ever seen. That's one aspect of his athleticism that is still pretty elite.

[G-Funk]

Top 20 All-time

[Smoke117]

This is his best dunk in years. On his other "vintage" dunks this year and for most of this decade, he's had a run up or at least been able to get his steps off of his move to the basket. But, this was a callback to the first thing I ever noticed about Wade at the start of his career, that he dunked from positions that a player his size shouldn't be able to dunk from.

The explosion is nowhere close to what it used to be, and even this dunk was more a function of his freakish wingspan than his current ability to elevate, but still this was a true, old school D-Wade slam.

Wade's 6'10" wingspan also seems to get overlooked because of how quick and explosive he was when younger and the fact that his body is so compact that he doesn't really look lengthy. The thing is, though, that, length will make up for a loss of athleticism as you age...guys that are lengthy usually can still do a lot of the stuff they did before their athleticism waned because of that length. They can't jump as high...but they don't need to. Wade never had a huge vertical to begin with...I believe it was 36 inches.

[GrapeApe]

Not only, his wingspan but Wade gets off the floor as quickly as any player I've ever seen. That's one aspect of his athleticism that is still pretty elite.

That and his body control in the air. Most players lose some agility when they leave the floor (especially as they age), but Wade is able to maintain his body control right through his leap. When combined with getting off the floor quickly like you mentioned, he's able to have those "out of nowhere" type finishes from an awkward launch. Part of it is athleticism, but it's more of an innate ability than anything.